>> no one is forcing the parent to buy the toy. don't like it, don't buy it. thanks to everyone who responded. what a dumb idea for a toy? >> i guess they're trying to teach some kind of lesson but whatever. have a great day, folks. "fox & friends" starts right now. >> good morning. it is thursday, september 5, 2013. i'm gretchen carlson. thanks for sharing your time today. talk about awkward. president obama and vladimir putin about to come face-to-face after months of insulting each other. putin calling obama a liar. what does this mean for the future of syria? we're about to find out. >>steve: one dead and others exposed to a deadly brain disease all linked back to one hospital. how did that happen? we've got developing details on this thursday morning. >>brian: caught on camera, the heart-stopping moment a helicopter goes down. find out what it's like to live through a helicopter crash. >>steve: oh man. >>brian: only on "fox & friends" because the first

hour starts now. ♪ ♪ >>gretchen: good morning. hope you're going to have a great thursday. we're going to get right to your headlines and bring you up to speed on syria. one person died, 13 others may have been exposed to a rare and deadly brain disease that has no cure. it is believed the patients were operated on with the same rented infected equipment in new hampshire. it is called c.j.d. and it is similar to mad cow disease. >> there have only been four cases in the world's literature of this type of transfer. four cases with surgical instruments. >>gretchen: unlike viruses or bacteria, standard hospital sterilization does not kill c.j.d. from surgical equipment. >> while on a safari in

tanzania, a heard of 50 elephants chased a man. he fell when he ran away. he was crushed by the animals. he the -- he was set to begin a new job next week. >> school closed after a high school in texas after a stabbing left a student dead. police say a 17-year-old confessed to the murder. he's now under arrest. parents are terrified to send their kid back to school. >> we send them to get education. it is sad that something like this happens at a place where they come to get education. i don't understand. >> i feel very unsafe for my son. >> three other people who were stabbed were treated and released from the hospital. here's that heart-stopping moment you saw a few seconds ago. a chopper goes down during the filming of a hunting

show. gusts of wind drops the chopper from 150 feet to 70 feet in seconds. the photographer was hanging out of the door to get better footage. amazingly no one was seriously hurt. and those are your headlines. >>steve: that guy is lucky hanging out the door, but great pictures. wound up on tv. this is big tv news. the senate foreign relations committee yesterday gave the president of the united states what he wanted: the authority to use military might against syria. what's interesting, though, and this was by menendez and corker -- they wrote it and added some language by john mccain at the last minute. they changed the text where now they want to change the momentum on the battle field. the goal of strengthening the rebels and weakening assad. >>gretchen: what does that mean, changing the

momentum? >>brian: that is what senator mccain. he thought he got it along with senator graham on sunday when he had this one on one meeting that lasted almost an hour. he said i want to be sure there is not going to be tomahawk missiles, want to make sure we're going to actually supply the rebels, whoever they are and who senator mccain has made an effort to meet with some of them. he wants to make sure they are getting the aid they were promised in the spring when the president first noted they used chemical weapons. >>gretchen: that line is so vague. if you're a lawyer and you look at that line, you're like that is not going to pass the muster. change the momentum on the battle field, that could mean so many different things. i guess also in there they're saying there aren't going to be boots on the ground. that is the line before it. you could analyze that next line about what does that mean about polymeric's interest in syria moving -- mean about america's interest in syria going forward. >>steve: they also, quote, does not authorize the use of u.s. armed

forces on the ground in syria for the purpose of combat operations. combat operations is also one of those weasel phrases that can mean a lot of things. what if they need to send in people to secure the sarin and v.x. gas? according to a report leaked to the daily mail, if we were to go in there, it would take 75,000 pairs of boots on the ground to do just that. >>brian: they already did a report. they worked it up. that even seems light compared to what we learned about iraq. there was also a lot of drama on the house side because it was time for senator kerry, senator hagel and chairman of the joint chiefs of star martin dempsey to meet with some house committee members and there could be a big vote for the house and the senate as early as next week but i think the big news came out of your homeland, ph sweden where gretchen and steve were recruited by roger ailes. >>gretchen: for our viking ability.

>>brian: for me as an italian irish guy, the fireworks kicked in. and the president of the united states, i was stunned because i was doing the radio show and they said you're not going to believe what the president just said. and he came out and essentially divorced himself from responsibility for saying exactly what he did say. a red line will be the movement of chemical weapons. listen to the president, what he said now as opposed to what he said last august. >> first of all, i didn't set a red line. the world set a red line. the international community's credibility is on the line. and america and congress's credibility is on the line because we give lip service to the notion that these international norms are important. >> we have been very clear to the assad regime but also to other players on the ground that a red line for us is we start seeing a

whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. >>brian: stunning. would be a red line for us. >>steve: that doesn't sound like the international community. keep in mind there are rules regarding the international red line, and they were set by the united nations; right? the united nations has come out and said if we do anything in syria, it would break the law. so, in other words, the president might be striking syria without the united nations support. so how can he use the international red line as justification? but that's what he's doing. he's blamed the international community, blame congress, but don't blame me. it's not my fault. >>gretchen: i think he's mostly blaming congress. if you really went back and parse the words about what he said last august, it would be a red line for us. remember how much we debated the word "is" now we're going to debate the word us, which is a vowel change. you could argue when he said a red line for us he meant the united states of america and not just him solely as president of the

united states. i bet that's what they're going to argue. the whole thing here is this whole machination of what's been going on in the last ten days many would argue is that the president is looking for cover, looking for cover from congress, and that's why this -- remember he met with his p.r. specialist last tuesday? this is probably part of the lines they came up with to try and tell the rest of the world that this is not just the president solely acting. >>brian: the international community in the 1920's said no chemical weapons or biological weapons. let's not use weapons of mass destruction. i understand his point. but he should say and it's my red line but it's the world's red line. also that shows leadership. if you listen to the president's speeches, listen to his inaugural address, convention speeches, i is everywhere. then he sits there in sweden and says it is not my red line. as shocked as toeufs hear that and -- as shocked as i was to hear that, the two-time secretary of

defense sat down with greta last night and was told this. listen to his reaction. >> the president is saying there was a red line, saying he didn't draw it. >> this president has tried to find a way to blame everybody or anybody for everything. and leadership requires that you stand up, take a position, provide clarity and take responsibility. and i can't imagine him saying that he didn't draw the red line. but he did draw the red line. we have ears. >>steve: we do have ears and he did draw the red line. i saw on twitter this comment: we're going to go to war to defend the credibility of a comment obama won't take responsibility for. >>brian: part of the reason we went to war in iraq is iraq broke 19 u.n. resolutions. we gave the u.n. teeth for the first time. they voted for it. this time russia and china are not going to vote for it because they seem to not

care about weapons of mass destruction. in president putin's case he doesn't believe they used chemical weapons. >>steve: the u.n. point is if we do anything over there we will be breaking international law. as the president tries to place blame on the congress for his red line, right now he's on his way to russia for the g-20 summit and a cold war era showdown is in the works between the president and the host, president vladimir putin. president obama says he will try to persuade the need for the strike against syria. good luck with that. lee land vitter is live in israel with the very latest. >> good morning, guys. call it the showdown in st. petersburg. you can bet president putin in russia on his home turf is going to flex his muscle trying to convince president obama there is no need for a strike. president putin asked for more proof of chemical weapons used. whether president obama is going to give that publicly or privately is yet to be

seen. russians remain staunchly behind president assad. they have that veto in the u.n. security council keeping anything from going through without international con is en ses. they also -- consensus. they man a lot of air defense systems inside syria that u.s. forces would have to go through in order to get into syria. this is going to be a critical moment in this meeting between president obama and president putin. also there, the cast of leadership around the world. china that supports president assad. the head of saudi arabia, who supports the syrian rebels. the president of france who is thinking of being able to use french military power along with the united states. either both sides go into their respective corners and try to work on their own battle plans, if you will, but you can't rule out the existence of some kind of last-minute diplomatic deal that could come out of this if somebody like russia diodes to take the lead and upshow everybody at the g-20.

>>brian: they called secretary of state kerry a liar. >>gretchen: there hasn't been a lot of discussion about israel's stance in this thing. that would be one of the first countries syria would go after if there would be retaliation. >>steve: israel did respond a day or two ago and said if something happens to us, if they try to shoot something at us, we can take care of ourselves. putin's point, i heard russia on the radio a couple of days ago talking about there is a possibility that perhaps the rebels are the ones who got the poison gas and poisoned their own people. is al qaeda trying to frame assad? that's something a lot of people are wondering about. >>brian: 12 minutes after the hour. ahead, he comes to close the wage gap but it turns out income and inequality has grown under president obama. how did that happen? stuart varney on deck, some people say getting closer to the couch. >>steve: a trip to the

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from crispy crackers to shortbread cookie dog snacks, they're oven-baked to surprise and delight. beneful baked delights: a unique collection of four snacks... to help spark play in your day. >>steve: president obama campaigned on sharing the wealth and closing the income gap but now his friends at the new york times released a report showing inequality appears' accelerated during the obama administration roughly four times faster than it did under president george w. bush. how did that happen? stuart varney breaks down the numbers. >> spread the wealth, tax the rich, redistribute income does not work. in fact, it has the exact opposite effect. the wealth gap was growing under president bush, but the widening speeded up

dramatically under president obama. worse, the key constituency groups that reelected president obama and got him in in the first place in 2008 -- that's young people, single women, black folks, hispanics -- those four groups have all lost income, and they still have a very high unemployment rate at the end of the first four years or five years of the obama administration. >>steve: you're talking about the gap between the haves and have-nots? >> up here versus down there. >>gretchen: that's startling because he was reelected and so you would assume these particular groups of people voted for him the first time and ngressman matt salmon, a republican from arizona, said he has at his office received 500 calls. only 2 are for military action. >>brian: 25 minutes before the top of the hour. >>gretchen: let's do other headlines. overnight a judge blocked a

hospital from forcing an amish girl to resume chemotherapy. the ten-year-old's parents stopped treatment because they said she was getting sicker. last weekend an appeals court ruled in favor of the hospital. this judge reversed that. he said not letting her parents make medical decisions for their daughter would take away their own personal rights. >>brian: he defied lawmakers when he decided rhode island would have a holiday tree instead of a christmas tree. now governor chafee shocking folks again. the former republican elected as an independent in 2010 announced he will not seek reelection. >> i'm not going to be seeking reelection as a governor. the effort that goes into a campaign, a lot of time and effort that goes into the campaign. it is not just going to event, fund-raising. at this moment in rhode island's history, all your time and energy into the task at hand. that is the biggest reason i'm doing this. >>brian: in other words, he's not running at all. >>gretchen: it says

before he was a democrat. wasn't he an independent. >>brian: in april chafee was the least popular governor in the country. i would say he is the most confused. he has switched three parties. he was democrat and now he's two -- too tired to run. >>steve: pick a lane. this video you're about to see will stop your heart. an s.u.v. plowed into a store in australia. look at that. barely missed a customer. even crazier, he was only standing against the counter because he didn't have enough cash to pay for his order and was waiting for his credit card to go through. if he had the correct change, he would have left seconds before and probably would have gotten run over. >>gretchen: yikes. a school superintendent accused of not setting a good example. he post add welcome message to the school's website that he stole from another superintendent.

here's what he had to say. >> that superintendent would say that was a complete compliment. maybe in retrospect probably should have acknowledged him on that site. >> it's not allowed in high school, not allowed in colleges and he should be reprimanded. >>gretchen: the president of the school board hasn't commented but plan to discuss it further at their next meeting. those of your headlines. lincoln chafee is an independent. >>steve: he has checked all the boxes. >>brian: next hour nothing but chafee talk. it's the day football fans wanted for months. tonight the nfl regular season officially kicks off. the ravens will be taking the field in denver against the broncos. the broncos top quarterback champ bailey not expected to play because of a strained foot. denver will be looking for revenge. they got eliminated at home

in the playoffs by the ravens. speaking of the broncos, the giant billboard in front of the mile high stadium causing a lot of controversy. it urges the nfl to quote stop driving players to drink. it says marijuana is safer and legal. colorado. what's the point? the pro-pot group behind the billboard trying to convince the group to rethink its policy on drugs and not punish the players who just want to get high. becoming a reality for a group of trick shot superstars. that's the australian trick squad. they're called how ridiculous making nothing but net from an observation tower in the netherlands. they were more than 300

feet high. the group set a new world record. by the way, there were other people higher in holland. it took 62 times to make that shot. fantastic. >>steve: can you imagine being the person who had to take the ball back up the stairs 62 times. >>brian: i hope there is an elevator or a dumb waiter. >>gretchen: what's that? >>brian: that thing you put on a string. coming up on fox news radio, "kilmeade & friends," steve doocy, chris wallace, and we're going to talk benghazi. >>gretchen: fantastic. i think we've got to get a check of our weather too because the weekend's coming up. maria, what's it going to be like? >> depends where you live. across the center of the country it is going to be a hot weekend. friday across parts of the midwest many areas will be climbing well into the 90's. for today minneapolis in the middle 80's.

90's around the corner. you are going to continue to see temperatures rising. parts of texas already hot. upper 90's for san antonio and also dallas. take a look at l.a. this is downtown los angeles. southern california, it is september and the high temperature today is forecast to be 90 degrees. very unusual it is that hot that far west across parts of california. otherwise across the northeast well below average. temperatures are only going to makeñó'= it into the 70's for many of you. as we head into tomorrow, going to get cooler. low 70's for parts of new york city. during the morning hours some people across the northeast are going to be waking up to temperatures into the low 30's or even upper3k= 20's. there are a number of frost and freeze advisories across interior sections of thehe caribbean it is still summer and looking at the atlantic hurricane season continuing. we do have brand-new storm,39c

tropical storm gabrielle producing heavy rain across parts of puerto rico. we have yet to see a hurricane so far this hurricane season. it is forecast to be above average and we have more time to go. with this particular storm it is forecast to stay east of the unitedh@lr÷ states. let's head back to the studio. >>steve: maria, thank you very much out on the streets of new york city. >>brian: next, the president looking for congressional approval on syria. why now? recent history shows he usually bypasses congress. judge napolitano will walk this direction and he'll come on and talk about it. >>gretchen: a new brew that you can use for lunch. ♪ ♪ ♪ ho ho ho ♪ [ female announcer ] at 100 calories, not all food choices add up. some are giant. some not so giant.

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>>brian: quick headlines. sirius and fox news reached a deal that will last until 2019. that means you can listen to "fox & friends." you can listen to "fox & friends." you can hear our show on-line. i'm not sure what they're doing, fox news talk but they are also putting a business show on. fox news channel can be heard on 114. i'll tell you what they're doing when i get clarity. only a time when instant coffee meets instant soup. cam bells soup is teaming with keurig to offer instant soup. take that. gretch? >>gretchen: i expect him to make me a cup of it. nine seconds? please. easy enough for you to make it for me and for the judge too. at first the president didn't want to go to congress on syria but now he's asking for their approval on a military strike. in the past he hasn't let

congress stand in his way for the big decision. here are a few examples: obamacare, drug laws, immigration, gun control and new taxes. here to weigh in is fox news senior judicial analyst and soup lover, judge andrew napolitano. good morning. >> good morning, gretchen. at first it seems like it's a head scratcher. why would he be asking congress for authority to do something that he already has the legal authority to do, especially when he has a track record of delaying the enforcement of laws, making unlawful appointments to administrative agencies, interfering in the work congress should be doing. here is the plan as i see it. he is a hard-left big-government progressive. and if he can use those values that are within him to change the policy of the government and get away with it, he'll do it. but when it comes to defense, when it comes to national defense or when it comes to interfering in the syrian civil war, he wants political cover from the

congress. he doesn't want to take the heat himself, whichever way the vote goes. >>gretchen: especially since he criticized president bush for these exact same things acting unilaterally so he doesn't want to be seen in the same light. let's talk about obamacare. the president delayed the employer mandate until 2015. many unions granted waivers. so he did all that without going to congress. >> people who wrote the constitution were very specific and they added a word in his oath to prevent him from doing it. his job is to faithfully enforce the laws of the united states. that means he has to enforce all of them. he can't make exemptions to them. he can't enforce only the laws he agrees with. he can't not enforce the laws he disagrees with. and he can't get his face into congress and try to do their job for him. >>gretchen: i hate to disappoint you because here's another example.

the fed's pardoning pot so the department of justice is going to decrease sentences. the mandate here is you can't override an act of congress without congress. >> this is an example where he's interfering with the judiciary. i happen to agree with him on this. having been a judge for the number of years i was there are far too many people in jail who are utterly harmless, there because they have an illness not because they harmed anybody. nevertheless the president and attorney general cannot control sentencing. that is a job for the judicial branch. this is yet again an example of a president who wants to put his nose where it doesn't belong. >>gretchen: what about recess appointments? other presidents have done this. >> he lost on recess appointments. all modern presidents appointed people to administrative agencies when the senate was not in session because they believed the senate would not confirm their appointments. president obama did

see if he tries to do it again. >>gretchen: there is immigration and gun control. the list goes on and on and back full circle to your original point which is you believe he's doing this for cover? >> i believe he's invade syria for political cover. what will dee if one says yes and the other says no? he will be on shaky political ground. >> gretchen: that is the big question for next week. thanks so much. have a great weekend. the dollar menu at mcdonald's is now the $5 menu. the clerk behind the counter pulls out his own gun. look at that. he's going to join us next too big. too small.

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>> steve: we showed you this video yesterday. an armed robber picking the wrong liquor store to hold up. turns out the clerk was an iraq war vet and quickly turned the tables, putting the gun in the thief's mouth. that clerk, air force and army veteran john alexander joins us this morning. good morning to you. >> good morning, steve. how are you today? >> steve: doing okay. so this guy walks in to your liquor store on sunday night and immediately he was doing something that bugged you. right? >> yeah. he came walking in and smoking a cigarette. we don't allow smoking there in the store, so i kindly asked him, he'd have to take it outside. he looked at me and i said sir, you need to take the cigarette back outside. we don't allow smoking in here. then he immediately, after i

said that, started raising up the gun and said, you need to give me all your money, but he used other words. he was trying to raise his pistol up. i extended my arm and my left arm, and outstretch my hand and was blobbing his -- block his gun arm from coming up. and at the same time, he was trying to get over the top of my hand, so i immediately pulled my weapon and put it right in his face up against his mouth, as a matter of fact. a couple seconds he stood there and then he just kind of looked down at the pistol and when he realized that i could have a gun, too, he immediately backed out of the store. >> steve: no kidding. john, what did you say to him? >> i just told him, when i put the gun up against his mouth, i said, you need to get the out of here before i blow your mm head off. >> steve: and he did. he did get out of there.

you know, you look at the video. could have gone horribly wrong. would you do it again? >> absolutely. like i told the police officer, if i would have actually seen the barrel of the pistol, they wouldn't have to look for him right now. he'd already be dead. >> steve: the policy there at that liquor store is just to give them the money. but you didn't do it that day. what did your boss say about it? >> my boss gave me permission to carry my weapon when i was hired. they knew exactly what i would do and they're okay with it. >> steve: all right. john louis alexander, thank you for your service to this country and thank you very much for joining us today to tell us your story. >> thank you. have a good day, steve. >> steve: you as well. all right. coming up, can eric holder force the department of veterans affair to give benefits to same sex couples? right back

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>> g everybody. today is thursday, september 5, 2013. hope you're gonna have a great day. i'm gretchen carlson. talk about awkward, president obama and putin about to come face-to-face after months of insulting one another. putin calling this administration liars. we got the president's reaction coming up. >> brian: wow. one dead, several others exposed to a brain disease. details straight ahead. >> steve: are you this hooked to your cell phone? check out this guy's romantic proposal. turns out that's not even the worst one. look at that. proposing on the beach. >> brian: he doesn't put his phone down during his proposal? >> steve: "fox & friends" hour two for this thursday starts right now. >> brian: by the way, this is

such a good segment, everyone can relate to. the iphone or the whatever you have, blackberry infiltrated your life, i believe it's a flat out addiction. not only are we all going blind for staring at it, but it's a total distraction. wherever you are, you don't even need to speak to the person next to you, you got a movie in your hand, your e-mail that you have to answer. am i right? >> gretchen: in that guy's defense, he's taking a selfy of himself getting engaged. >> brian: right. hire somebody. >> steve: i got an update. as we're talking about this, these two people out here are on their cell phone. [ laughter ] >> gretchen: they're calling people to say, look at me. >> steve: ladies and gentlemen, exhibit a and b to our point! people are hooked on phones! they come here to stand outside our window to wave like that and say hey, we're on tv. but instead, they're -- >> gretchen: 7 1/2 years ago when both my husband and i got black berries for the first time from our respective jobs, it was very romantic and we turned them

back in. we said, this could actually affect our marriage. [ laughter ] and then we moved out of the city where we were more away from being able to get to work in five minutes and we got, as my daughter called them, boo berries. and so our life changed after that. as did everyone else's. but you're right. >> brian: there is no reason to talk to him when you can text him. >> gretchen: i do text, but i know he doesn't want to respond to. that's a little too much information. >> brian: how many relationships have been destroyed by texts because you can not possibly accent the right areas. >> steve: what's showing on your iphone? >> gretchen: people are going to wonder why you call him bird dog. >> steve: because wherever we are he's standing next to me. >> gretchen: which camera? >> brian: we got to get an actor and a camera man. >> gretchen: i'm going to start. one person has died, 13 others

may have been exposed now to a rare and deadly brain disease that has no cure. it's believed the patients were operated on with the same rented infected equipment. this happened in new hampshire. it's called cjd. it's similar to mad cow disease. >> there have only been four cases in the world's literature of this type of transfer. four cases with surgical instruments. >> gretchen: unlike viruses or bacteria, standard hospital sterilization does not kill this from surgical equipment. an american doctor is dead, a horrible accident. he was trampled by elephants while on a safari in tanzania. 50 elephanted started chasing him. he fell, tried to run away and was crushed. he was a former dean of the university of california, san diego. the obama administration

clears the way for same sex spouses of military veterans to be eligible for federal benefits. the justice department announcing it will no longer enforce the section of the law that only allows benefits to heterosexual couples. same sex spouse already get the benefits. the announcement comes after a judge ruled an army vet and her spouse should be entitled to disability benefits. the decision will only apply in states where gay marriage is legal. can you handle the truth? here it is, jack nicholson is not retiring from acting. >> brian: really? >> i'll answer the question. you want answers? i think i'm entitled. >> i want the truth! >> you can't handle the truth! [ laughter ] >> gretchen: wow. maria shriver putting an end to the rumors. she says he's not quitting acting because of memory loss and has no current plans to leave hollywood. he's 76 years old. >> brian: that's where the lakers play. >> steve: five minutes after the

top of the hour. we're hours away from what could be a key meeting on a strike on syria or a really awkward photo op once again. president obama seen right there, soon to meet up with russian president putin. they're going to be face-to-face in the g-20 summit in russia. that's one of the excerpts from the last time they got together. >> brian: yesterday he called his secretary of state a liar. >> steve: i know it. it's just crazy. what are they going to do today? let's check in with leeland vittert with the latest. >> good morning, guys. the president now in st. petersburg for the showdown in st. petersburg. the last time putin and obama got together, it was rather icy. there is no reason to think today will be different. president obama is trying to convince his russian counterpart that it is time for a strike against syria. president putin said a couple of things. one, show me the proof. doesn't think there is enough of it of chemical weapons. the russians still support

president assad not only with weapons, but also with the u.n. security council. keeping that absolute veto to protect president assad. they're also arming president assad, in addition to providing air defense resources that the united states would have to get through in order to be able to have a successful attack there on syria. in addition to president putin, you have got all the leaders really around the world that will play in the syria crisis, the leader of china who supports assad, leader of saudi arabia, who supports the syrian rebels and the french president there in st. petersburg. the french are the only milary ally that you have right now thinking about supporting the united states in some kind of military strike against syria. there is a chance both sides are going to sort of go into their corners and continue to try to plan in terms of military contingencies. on the other hand, this has a unique opportunity, a lot are saying this is the last chance in terms of an opportunity that they could broker that is

significant. back to you. >> brian: thanks. remember, putin said yesterday, if i find out that they did use chemical weapons on the rebels, he goes, we'll take action. that would adjust what kind of aid we give. but i don't think it's happening. he also was upset at secretary of state kerry where he says knowingly saying that the rebels are moderates when he says he knows and he says he knows kerry knows that they're affiliated in many cases, especially in the north, with al-qaeda. >> gretchen: when the russian president is maybe correct on this whole thing. i know john mccain agrees with john kerry on that faction. but remember what happened in libya. those rebels didn't turn out to necessarily be so moderate. i'm not sure we know exactly who these rebels are right now. speaking of trying to arm them, that could be another dangerous situation. >> steve: i don't think given what john kerry said yesterday in front of congress, he's going to be talking to mr. putin. mr. putin referred to john kerry as a liar.

the senate yesterday, the final vote, and it was bipartisan, 10-7, i believe, plus marky of massachusetts decided just to vote present. >> brian: which is ridiculous. >> steve: of course. >> brian: get a spine. >> steve: crazy. anyway, they voted to okay the president's request to strike syria. what's interesting is that john mccain got them to change the text of the resolution and now the goal will be to change the momentum on the battlefield. keep in mind in the past, it has been not to tip in favor of one side or another. just to discipline them. now we're going to try to go ahead and change the momentum. >> gretchen: what does that mean? that's so vague. >> brian: it goes on to say, to create favorable conditions for a negotiated settlement that ends the conflict and leads to a democratic government. >> gretchen: so to change the momentum. i mean, you really can look at that and think, what does that mean about america's involvement moving forward? if the ultimate goal is to change the regime head of assad,

then -- >> brian: just kill him. >> gretchen: well, that, or is america going to become more involved to change the momentum? it's very ambiguous and very vague. >> steve: keep in mind, the reason we're here right now is because last year the president of the united states said if they used chemical weapons, they will cross a red line to us, referring to the united states. yesterday the president was there in sweden. he was having a joint press availability with the prime minister of sweden and he was asked about the red line. his credibility, and i don't think it was amnesia, but the president of the united states actually says it's not a big problem. he didn't set the red line. the international community did. here is the president yesterday and then a year ago. you compare and contrast. >> first of all, i didn't set a red line. the world set a red line. point number two, my credibility is not on the line. the international community's

credibility is on the line. and america and congress' congress is on the line because we give lip service to the notion that these international norms are important. >> we have been very clear to the assad regime, but also to other players on the ground that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. >> brian: their example on the president not taking responsible for what he's saying, how could you get the nobel peace prize and talk about war, a lot of times to get peace to earn peace, you have to have war or stand up when people are being gassed to death. i thought the president's answer to that was pretty good. he said i never said i was worthy of it. you gave it to me. here is what i'm going at. that was good. but then the more he talked, the more he seemed to punt, putting pressure on congress, the world community? no, he's right on this.

the world doesn't care about u.n. putting u.n. resolutions and going to the u.n. is ridiculous. they have russia and china who oppose us on everything and we don't do the necessary behind closed door work to make it happen. >> gretchen: it was a pr move when he got together with robert gibbs and david axelrod over the last couple of days. they came up with probably this design to say that the red line is sort of this international thing because if, in fact, congress does not vote in favor of this attack, the president will really be on the hook as to what he will do. more discussion about this throughout the show. we've got to get to this smart phone discussion because there is a new documentary coming out that certainly makes it look like almost all of us are addicted to our phones in some particular way. are you one? >> brian: 72% of americans have their phone within five feet of them all the time. 32% of you adults bring it and use it during a child's

function. 35% use it at movies. 58% text and use it while driving. >> gretchen: you're missing out. you're missing the biggest one. 10% use it when in bed with their spouse. >> brian: 12% use it in the shower. 30% admit to snooping on someone by grabbing their phone when they're not look. >> steve: because it is so prevalent these days and so many people are hooked on it and if you're doing this, you're looking at this, you're not looking at what's going on over there, there are a lot of people who are having weddings and saying, look, you're invited, but please turn off your phones. >> brian: don't bring them in. >> steve: yeah. prince, the performer who used to go by just that crazy symbol, he's actually banned smart phones from concerts. we live in an age of smart phones, and yet people do a lot of stupid stuff with them these days. >> brian: right. it's taking over our lives. do you believe that we are all addicted to our cell phones?

is it time to fall back, to limit yourself? e-mail us, or tweet us. >> gretchen: now adults need a specific amount of technology time, like i do with my kids. only 30 minutes a day, right? maybe adults should listen to that. although we might be the greatest offenders. coming up, did you know this? syria used to be a u.s. ally? what started the current conflict. how did we get where we are today? that's coming up next. >> brian: and. >> steve: is this the new america. the dollar menu officially changing to include items that cost $5. what's up with that, mickey d? >> brian: is it still dollar beer? >> steve: at mcdonald's? you don't like flavor? actually, it's deliciously bold with southwest spices. i think i'm getting hungry. i think we're going to like this class. [ male announcer ] progresso. surprisingly bold flavor for a heart healthy soup. gear up with great deals at bass pro shops.

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>> brian: fox news alert. foreign relations committee approved a resolution authorizing limited force in syria. the full senate needs to vote. that will happen next week. if you're like many americans trying to follow this crisis, it can be overwhelming and

confusing. what started this conflict in syria to begin with? do you remember? why is it impossible to obtain peace in that region, or seemingly? with us to break it down, a man who knows the history, as well as what the challenges are now, fox news military analyst lieutenant general thomas mcmirnyi. the ottoman empire breaks up, the western world draws up these countries. they were never meant to be together in the first place. >> exactly, brian. the french took them between world war 1 and world war ii. after world war ii, then they got their independence, went through a series of governments until finally al assad took charge and that was in 1970. so from that period to 2000 when his son, the current leader became leader, it's been under the assad family, which is now

a minority shiite family. 75% of syria are sunni, yet this minority sect were ruling the country. but this is not a tribal war that's going on now. >> brian: yeah. by the way, they were briefly our ally in the persian gulf war to take down saddam hussein. they helped george bush 41 and put a token force together as we pushed them out of kuwait. they really have american blood on their hands. when we look at this conflict, are there any good guys? >> well, that's a good question. the rebel armies are two main factions. one is under colonel riyadh, free syrian army, of that the original rebel group. then you had the supreme military council under general idris in which the qataris and later the saudis helped rise up in support. there is a question on both. i think we need some very good

due diligence. we do not have it when people say they're good rebels over there and bad rebels. that's true, but we don't have enough fidelity. i've seen views on both sides. i'm supporting the free syrian army group because general paul, my co-author, went and spent a week there a week ago. that's where my confidence is. but we need more help on this. >> brian: we got video of al-qaeda. the front page of the "new york times." assassinating syrian army guys who they captured, blowing their heads off. we also hear al-qaeda rebels were killing christians yesterday. we know this, assad kind of protected the christian community and they've been really destroyed in iraq, have been really been targeted in syria. and they've done nothing except live! >> exactly. through the whole middle east, the christians are being wiped out and nobody is saying anything. that's one of the very dangerous

things. after 12 years, brian, you would have thought the exact opposite. with all we have done in both iraq and afghanistan that there would have been more positive indication of secular societies. that's why i'm very concerned about any resolution to go to war without clear objectives because as we know, once you break it, you own it. we've got enough scar tissue. >> brian: very good analogy. all right, general. we'll continue to watch it and we could have bombing campaign within the next week. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> brian: up next on our rundown, one city seal for over 100 years. one group wants it to go because the symbol is too christian. we report. you decide. then are you ready for some football? the season kicks off tonight, co-host of fox nfl sunday, the real mvp, howie long and terry bradshaw overrated. rob rigell here next d then i get a little bit hungry ♪

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what can we expect this season? co-host and army veteran fox nfl sunday's rob rigell joins us right now. >> marine corps. >> brian: wow. i do correct me. >> you can't do that. i love my army brothers. >> brian: but you served in afghanistan? >> i did. >> brian: still came out with a sense of humor. that's pretty good. >> yeah. >> brian: how do you replace brian with jimmy kimmel? >> you don't. you just do something different. jimmy and frank are funny guys, super talented. >> brian: you're more talented and funnier and you smell better. >> thank you! >> gretchen: actually that should be coming from a woman's point of view. it's a little scary. okay. >> brian: thank you very much. you grabbed my knee and arm in the same segment. >> gretchen: you were in the

active reserves. >> i was active duty for nine years and went in the reserves for the last 14. i retired in january. >> steve: you're an active duty with the nfl on fox now. what are you going to bring to the table? >> well, fox has a super bowl this year and it's here in new york. it will be a cold weather super bowl. so we're shooting this week in new york and it's going to be fun. we're doing a skit. it's very ambitious. [ laughter ] that's all i can tell you. if you tune in at 11:30 on sunday for the pregame show. >> gretchen: it will be ambitious because it's september. there is no snow here right now. >> that's right. >> brian: you can do it. >> we're involving a lot of new york icons in this little sketch. i think it will be a lot of fun. >> brian: let's talk about something else. the most superstitious fans, have you done a study? do you back up the study that reveals the ravens are the most superstitious? >> yes. you've done your homework as well. bud lite is the official beer of the nfl.

they've done all this research for the fans and dove in and they've gone out and interviewed fans from every team. turns out the baltimore ravens fans are the most superstitious fans in the nfl. >> steve: why is that? >> maybe there is something to that. they won the super bowl last year. >> brian: some people haven't changed their socks or underwear. if they're out there, be aware. >> baltimore raven, arizona cardinals and new orleans saints were the most superstitious fans in the nfl. then they broke it down and looked at the oakland raiders, they are the fans that wear their clothes the most, the same clothes. i'm a chiefs fan, so i believe that. >> brian: right. you're going to take on a bunch of new york fans. how has terry bradshaw and others accepted you? are you one of the guys? do you hang out with them? >> i like to think so. yeah. >> brian: but you're not sure? >> i am. they're very nice guys. you couldn't get a better group of guys.

strahan, howie long, bradshaw, jimmie johnson. >> steve: now rigell. >> gretchen: does howie long still have that restraining order against me is it. >> does he? >> gretchen: yeah. 'cause about four or five years ago -- see, i have this thing. i'm happily married, but i have this thing for howie long. we told him about it on the show and he was like, keeping his distance. [ laughter ] >> it's a healthy thing. i have a thing for howie, too. >> brian: so does steve. >> steve: i think we all do. >> brian: the big story this year that has you most intrigued in the nfl as we got set for another season? >> well, i think the big story, obviously, is the kansas city chiefs. >> brian: it is not! they are not the big story. >> shock the world and win the super bowl. >> brian: it would be something. >> steve: by the way, the super bowl is not in new york. it's new jersey. >> gretchen: come on. >> brian: they're shutting down broadway and making it super bowl highway. >> the majority of the parties will be right here. >> steve: we're going to be watching at 11:30 on sunday to see what this ambitious skit is.

he'll be part of it and the whole crew. >> thanks, guys. >> steve: good luck to you. >> gretchen: coming up, it's a moment a car explodes into flames. it's all caught on camera. >> those guys didn't flinch at all. >> gretchen: exactly what happens, coming up next. >> steve: plus, we're head over heels for this dog. it's one of the best animal videos on the web and that dog is live here. >> brian: more talented than rigell. i'm angela, and i didn't think i could quit smoking but chantix helped me do it. i told my docr i think i'm... i'm ready. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. i knew that i could smoke for the first 7 days. i knew that i wasn't putting nicotine back into my body to try to quit. [ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation,

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so come in and sea food differently. now, try seven lunch choices for $7.99. sandwiches, salads and more >> you guys fans of sesame street? did you watch it growing up? i love sesame street. i loved it, the new season will focus more on problem solving. when you hear that, obama said, what time is that show on? [ laughter ] biden was like 7 to 9. all right. >> brian: they were just writing today that the president of the united states is not going to get a pass at the house. maybe the senate is far from 60 unless he personally gets involved. >> steve: right. >> brian: individual congress people. essentially what do you need? >> gretchen: how long is this going to take? we've already given the whole war plan. now we're going to strike them in december? >> brian: next week is going to be a blitz after a major address. he wanted to use some of that

political capital for what? immigration. he's going to spend -- >> steve: keep in mind, he could have done this on his own, like libya. instead, he's going to congress to blame congress if things go hay wire. something is going to go hay wire. >> brian: he's probably going to do it anyway. >> steve: yeah. >> gretchen: that will be the interesting question for me. i'll stay tuned to see how that works. >> steve: when rand paul was on yesterday, he said what he was trying to do, and i don't think he was successful, was to insert language into the resolution where if the congress says no, then the president can't do it on his own. >> gretchen: that's not going to make it. by law, he can do it. by law, the president can do it. >> steve: right. in which case he didn't have to go to congress at all. all this would have been futile. >> gretchen: all right. we could be talking about this for quite some time. let's get right to your headlines. the nra says the nsa's sweeping surveillance program is just like an illegal gun registry.

so they have joined a lawsuit claiming the collection of phone records and data violates first amendment rights. the nra says the data mining deters others from working with the agency. the lawsuit speaks to the problem and delete all call records. >> brian: fight for faith in florida. the cross, heart and an anchor on the city seal. atheists say the three are symbols of the christian faith and should be replaced. the kicker? they want taxpayers to foot the bill. people who are there are furious. >> i tell them to go pound rock salt. >> i don't think that's right. not at all. >> brian: pound rocks. that's a nice way to show your temper. the city manager says they haven't had one complaint in the town's 131-year history. >> steve: i don't get the anchor part nor the heart part. meanwhile, an incredible explosion caught on camera after a wild car crash in colorado. watch this.

>> those guys didn't flinch at all. >> steve: it was insane. you can see parts of the car flying into the air. thankfully nobody was trapped inside. no emergency responders were hurt. cops later arrested the guy who caused the crash for driving on drugs. maybe that's why they didn't flinch. >> gretchen: a man in rhode island is suing because he says the church bells in his town ruined his marriage? he says the bells rang up to 700 times a week and caused tension with his wife and ultimately led to their divorce. he's now suing the catholic church. really? really? >> steve: yeah. >> gretchen: he's now suing the catholic church in federal court to decrease the amount of time the bells can ring. >> takes a long time to get up the nerve to complain about a church. nobody wants to complain about churches. >> gretchen: the church released a statement saying as a community of faith, we will pray for peace and understanding and that all our neighbors know of

our charity and concern. those are your headlines. >> steve: they ring the bells in the middle of the night, that can be -- >> gretchen: that could be disruptive to a marriage. >> steve: is it just during the day? i don't know. >> brian: john, do you know? >> i don't know. >> steve: can you check on that? >> i'm on it. >> gretchen: i hear church bells at my house. it's only during the day. >> brian: right. >> gretchen: every hour, and it's lovely. >> brian: 'cause you're here. >> gretchen: no! i hear it on the weekends and it's lovely. you know why? 'cause it tells me it's the top of the hour. so keeps me on time. >> brian: right. something tells me it's weather time. >> gretchen: all right. >> brian: extreme weather alert. gabrielle heading for puerto rico. that's not news to maria molina, is it? >> no, it's not. we actual lea have a brand-new update that will be coming out from the national hurricane center at the top of the hour at 8:00 a.m. eastern time. we will bring that to you. as of right now, it is still a tropical storm, maximum sustained winds at 40 miles per hour. you can see it here on the tropical satellite. a big blob now in the caribbean. it is producing a lot of heavy

rain across parts of puerto rico, including the city of san juan. anyone that's doing any traveling out here or people that live here are experiencing a lot of heavy rain. locally, some areas could even pick up to a foot of rain. flooding a huge concern and mud slides. right now the track does take the system to the north. over the next several days, it does remain as a tropical storm. so far this season we have not had a hurricane. we're still waiting on that. it is forecast to be well above average. we have more time to go. the season doesn't end until november 30. the good news with this system now for the united states is that it's forecast to stay east. otherwise temperature wise across the country, looking very hot. from north dakota to texas, you're in the 90s. otherwise the northeast, feeling very nice, very september like out here. it will be chillier tomorrow. >> steve: thank you very much.

>> steve: "fox & friends" trends. now more of our week long series highlighting animals gone viral. we're bringing some of your favorite animals from youtube and videos right here to the "fox & friends" studio. today's popular fur ball is a model, actor and a bit of an acrobat whose star power has taken the internet by storm. please welcome jiff, the multi-talented pomeranian. >> brian: wow. >> gretchen: i love this dog! >> brian: this is video of jiff. >> gretchen: look at this face. i have to turn around. look at that face. i love your little hoody. you're so cute. it's like a little bear. it reminds me of the movie "ted." >> brian: there is his face. perpetual puppy. he's three years old. looks like he's still got placenta on him. >> steve: because he is such an internet sensation, he's got over half a million --

[ laughter ] >> gretchen: oh, my gosh! suddenly my new friend was going to bite my head off. >> steve: do you have a treat there? >> gretchen: i did. >> brian: being attacked by a pomeranian. can you imagine in the emergency room? a pomeranian got the best of me. >> steve: he's got half a million facebook friends, but he's still behind boo, the pomeranian, who has 7 million likes. >> brian: he's been very busy here. >> steve: just look at some of the things he's been up to. as you can see, looks like brian, he was at your radio. >> brian: wow! he was on the air this morning! where else was he? >> steve: we've got more. look at that. maria molina. >> brian: hanging out with the weathercast. i met her.

[ laughter ] >> gretchen: looks great. >> steve: when his owners take him out in public, he always draws loud crowds. people usually ask, is he real? some think he's some kind of a toy or robot. actually he's an actor. there he is. >> gretchen: he just made his film debut this may in passion adventures of bailey." he starred in commercials for target, banana republic and the new york state lottery. >> brian: can we see him walk on his hands? >> gretchen: he was doing that earlier and riding a skateboard. >> steve: look at him. >> gretchen: he looks like ted, the movie. >> brian: who was real. he's a little angry. >> steve: ted in the movie talked. >> brian: right. and ted corrupted mark walburg. he almost ruined that relationship. >> gretchen: this is the cutest dog ever, i think.

>> steve: my hand is so wet. [ laughter ] >> gretchen: i dare one of you guys to pick him up again. let's see if he growls. i told you! >> steve: come here. >> brian: coming up straight ahead -- >> gretchen: here is one more. >> brian: coming up straight ahead on our show, cutest dog ever? write us. coming up, conservative student groups at one university facing budget cuts. the liberal groups are getting more money. how does that happen? >> gretchen: the government not alone in reading your e-mails. google admits it's been peeking at them, too. now we know what it's doing with them. that's coming up next. >> brian: but first the aflac trivia question. born on this day in 1951, this actor starred in movies like "mr. mom" before star not guilty guilty -- starring in movies

like" batman." answer that and you'll get something exciting. look at you, steve. like working in the circus. ready to run your lines? okay, who helps you focus on your recovery? yo, yo, yo. aflac. wow. [ under his breath ] that was horrible. pays you cash when you're sick or hurt? [ japanese accent ] aflac. love it. [ undehis breath ] hate it. helps you focus on getting back to normal? [ as a southern belle ] aflac. [ as a cowboy ] aflac. [ sassily ] aflac. uh huh. [ under his breath ] i am so fired. you're on in 5, ck. [ male announcer ] when you're sick or hurt, aflac pays you cash. find out more at aflac.com. with new all natural lean cuisine honestly good. it's frozen like you've never seen. they've stripped down to only natural ingredients. why? what were you thinking? new lean cuisine honestly good. in the natural frozen meals section.

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pnc investments works with you to understand yours and helps plan for your retirement. talk to a pnc investments financial advisor today. ♪ >> steve: college republicans at the university of north carolina are facing a financial setback. they saw their funding slashed by the student congress thanks to budget cuts. but what the congress forgot to mention, liberal student groups got more money. the republicans got cut. joining us is the chairman of the college republicans down there, peter mcclelland. good morning to you. >> good morning. how are you doing? >> steve: okay, although i'm concerned why did the republicans get chopped and the liberal groups got more money? >> yeah. so we went before student

congress for the past two tuesdays now requesting money to bring two speakers, one was a person to talk about gun rights and another. they said they weren't comfortable funding the full amount, $8,000. they cut it by $5,000, more or less, which ended up about 60 something percent cut and less than a quarter of what we were allocated for the year previous. and there has been a rising trend in this student government and campus at large that we see as trending towards bias against kind of conservative and right leaning groups. >> steve: would you say it's hostility toward your group and others on your side? >> yes. i'd say there is definite hostility against conservative and right leaning groups. we saw it last year as well. there was a pro-gun group on campus and some legislation went

to student congress and only narrowly failed after a veto. it would have harmed them greatly. >> steve: sure. so your money, the budget you asked for slashed. liberal groups actually got more money. don't they understand -- you know, we talk a lot about this, you need to hear both sides of the story. unless you and your group are allowed to, with some money, bring some conservative speakers there, kids there aren't going to hear both sides. >> yes. that's exactly what we pitched when we we want before full congress this past tuesday. we even cited the guidelines for student congress have very clear guidelines for what gets funded and what they should look at for funding. we ended up being the only people who were citing those, those funding guidelines. we think it's ridiculous. >> steve: i see here that a feminist organization got $5,100 and an anarchist group that

discusses ways to fight capitalism, 4,000. college republicans got 3,000. peter mcclelland, the chairman there, thank you very much. keep us posted on what happens. >> absolutely. i will. >> steve: meanwhile, we got a ton of e-mail from you yesterday about this story. students forced to starve if they forgot their lunch money. is that a good idea? a fair and balanced debate is coming up. first on this date in 1998, aerosmith "i don't want to miss a thing" number one song all around the world. ♪ don't want to close my eyes ♪ ♪ i don't want to -- v8 v-fusion plus energy. natural energy from green tea plus fruits and veggies. need a little kick? ooh! could've had a v8. in the juice aisle.

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>> gretchen: answer to the aflac

question was michael keaton. the winner is jacqueline from new jersey. congratulations. no such thing as a free lunch for kids in one new jersey school district. the policy says students who don't have enough money for lunch won't be fed. that's kind of what it is. their meals get tossed in the trash. is it the parents' responsibility to make sure that their kids don't starve? here to debate it, psychotherapist and school counselor, tom, and the founder of mama said.net, jan singer. good morning. >> good morning. >> gretchen: it's more of a complicated program. it's a federal program. so if you make under a certain income as a family, you are eligible to get a discounted rate for lunch or a free lunch. but you have to sign up for it. >> that's right. >> gretchen: so now one new jersey district says look, we wasted $50,000. people have taken advantage of this system. so now we're just not going to feed these kids unless their parents sign up. you say, tom in. >> i agree. i agree with the superintendent. i think it's a little harsh. i don't think they'll really

throw the food out in front of the kid. but essentially the school districts at the beginning of every school year will send out the form to free and reduced lunch form, federally funded. it's the responsibility of the parent to fill that form out, send it back to the school, the school submits it, or the parent can go on the web site. i think what happened with this school district is they've let it slide. they've been giving free lunch to every kid. even if they haven't had the form filled out f there hasn't been money in their account. now they find themselves in the hole. they send a letter home to the parents and say listen, we need to you step up to the plate here and start filling these forms out. >> gretchen: jen, do you have a problem with the fact that the kids actually will be punished, so to speak, at school by not getting lunch, but really the punishment is going to the parents, like look, get on board. sign up for easy? >> i understand where the school system is coming from, but you're a first grader, you're hungry. you have a plate full of food. you go up to check out. they won't give you the food. they dump it out. basically telling you that the garbage is more important than you are to have the food. don't take it out on the kids.

in our school system, if they forget their lunch or they don't have enough money, they give them a cheese sandwich and an iou. that's the way it should work for the kids. >> gretchen: tom, do you have a problem with the fact that the kids ultimately end up being punished in this situation? >> i think it's misleading that kids will be punished. we have more food than any other nation. no kid will starve. if one day a kid doesn't have lunch, maybe that's a teaching moment. it may sound harsh, but we got to get people to start being responsible. we can't expect everybody to be responsible for you. if your kid doesn't have food, take care of it. >> gretchen: they'll go home and say, look, i was really hungry during the school day because you didn't fill out the form. but i hate to say this, for even some parents, that may not be enough of a wake-up call. what is the solution to you? >> i hate to take it out on the kids because the parents are irresponsible. i think that they should still feed the child, give them something. in the meantime, work it out with the parents rather than take out on the poor kid.

>> gretchen: isn't the school's responsibility for having gotten into this situation? >> i could tell from you 20 years working in a school district, they're not going to make the kid starve. that's just kind of like a big warning to the parents. sos. start being responsible. they're not going to make the kid starve. i have kids come, i give kids money all the time and i'm broke from doing that. >> gretchen: good to know. we know what teachers and counselors do for their school system. they go out and buy supplies and everything. thanks so much. headed to wal-mart? you may want to think twice. why thousands of workers are walking off the job today. michelle malkin is here action top of the hour. don't miss that. right back [ male announcer ] introducing new fast acting advil. with an ultra-thin coating and fast absorbing advil ion core™ technology, it stops pain before it gets worse. nothing works faster.

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with premium service like one of the best on-time delivery records and a low claims ratio, we do whatever it takes to make your business our business. od. helping the world keep promises. icaused by acid reflux disease, relieving heartburn, relief is at hand. for many, nexium provides 24-hour heartburn relief and may be available for just $18 a month. there is risk of bone fracture and low magnesium levels. side effects may include headache, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. if you have persistent diarrhea, contact your doctor right away. other serious stomach conditions may exist. don't take nexium if you take clopidogrel. relief is at hand for just $18 a month. talk to your doctor about nexium. >> gretchen: good morning, everybody. it's thursday, september 5, 2013. i'm gretchen carlson. thanks for spending part of your

day with us today. president obama landing in russia this morning, about to meet with vladimir putin. can they come together on what to do about syria even though putin just called his administration liars? >> steve: one dead and several others exposed to a deadly brain disease. the common link? a hospital. we've got developing details coming up. >> brian: dream come true for aerosmith fans. hanging out at a nashville cafe. ♪ >> brian: that's steven tyler, breaking into song at a local bar. answering the question, what happened tho those "american idol" judges? >> steve: they're at bars. >> brian: brandy, were you there? "fox & friends" starts now.

>> brian: although i have to say the judges they have are probably the best ever. j-lo is coming back, harry connick, junior has an incredible personality. and keith urban, the bright light last year and randy jackson will be mentoring people. >> gretchen: yeah. and jimmy ivan. >> brian: i think this will be a great season. david hill took it over. so he'll bring that parts magic into -- sports magic into "american idol." somehow look for bradshaw to get in. >> gretchen: he is a singer. maybe he'll be one of the guests. >> brian: his daughter is a singer. >> steve: that's right. >> gretchen: all right. stay tuned for that. in the meantime, let's do some headlines. while you were sleeping, a bombing in egypt targeting the interior minister. he survived the attack. this marks the first attack on a top government since morsi was ousted. one person has died, 13 others may have been exposed now to a rare and deadly brain disease that has no cure. it's believed the patients were operated on with the same rented

infected equipment in new hampshire. it's called cjd, but it's similar to mad cow disease. >> there have only been four cases in the world's literature of this type of transfer. four cases with surgical instruments. >> gretchen: unlike viruses or bacteria, standard hospital sterilization does not kill cjd from surgical equipment. workers from new york and san francisco at wal-mart are walking off the job. they want their pay increased by labor day. that would be next labor day, right? it could be the biggest protest since last november's strike on black friday when 400 workers walked out. surprise. it's steven tyler, the aerosmith frontman shocked fans at the tiny blue beard cafe in nashville by showing up and performing his hit "dream on". ♪ dream on, dream on ♪

♪ dream on ♪ dream on ♪ dream on >> gretchen: the cafe is known for launching big-time careers, like taylor swift. those are your headlines today. >> brian: whatever happened to her? she has not had a hit in nine minutes. >> steve: she's probably dating another guy. less than 30 minutes from now, president obama comes face-to-face with russian president vladimir putin at the g-20 summit in st. petersburg. remember this? the two at odds over the handling of nsa leaker edward snowden and what should be done in syria. and so much more. >> brian: this as we learn the senate will return to washington tomorrow, several days early to get a jump start on making a decision on whether to take action, military action in syria. ed henry is live at the white house. this is anything but a lay-up for the president as he sits

will ready to confront vladimir putin. correct in. >> that's right. good morning. you remember that things were frosty back in june, even before the latest drama in the snowden situation. the trip more broadly so far has been dominated by the news conference yesterday in sweden where the president talked about that red line and said look, it was not my red line. it's international community's red line. it's not my credibility on the world stage that's on the line right now. it's the international community's credibility on the world stage right now. what he's trying to do there clearly is spread the responsibility and make it clear to the congress as they weigh this very important decision in the days ahead that in his words, what assad did, what his regime is accused of doing violates international norms. on the putin front, you mentioned back in june, we've seen those pictures. putin looking down at his shoes basically. the body language suggesting that relations were pretty frosty. look, there is a big reason for that on syria, which is that

russia had a long relationship with syria, selling arms and the like. the president at his news conference yesterday tried to say look, despite that reset in relations, he's disappointed there hasn't been more progress issues but hopeful they can make progress with putin in the days ahead. although some republicans are saying this makes him look weak on the world stage. >> there is no doubt that as i indicated a while back, we've kind of hit a wall in terms of additional progress. but i have not written off the idea that the united states and russia will continue to have common interests even as we have some very profound differences on some other issues. >> this president has tried to find a way to blame everybody or anybody for everything, and leadership requires that you stand up, take a position, provide clarity and take

responsibility. i can't imagine him saying that he didn't draw the red line. but he did draw the red line. >> while the president is overseas, his top officials here in washington continue to fan out on capitol hill, making the case for this resolution and the house and senate. you see the senate foreign relations there voting late yesterday. the president got some progress. they voted that committee in favor of this resolution for military action in syria 10-7. obviously a close vote, but the point is that now it goes to the senate floor. the senate may be coming in early to start dealing with this. the bottom line is, we're not expecting to see actual votes until the early to middle part of next week. there is progress there. the real problem for the president right now is whether or not he can get this resolution through the house. it's got much more uncertain faith there. >> steve: people think it will be a slam dunk to quote steven tyler, dream on. ed henry, thank you.

>> brian: michelle malkin is here. michelle, you're watching the drama and did you watch any of the press conference in the home land of gretchen and steve's sweden yesterday? your impression of the president talking about the red line? >> yeah. he looks nervous and he should look nervous because after coming off of throwing the u.s. and the entire branch of government, our congress, under the bus on a world stage, there really isn't much left for him in terms of ground to stand on and a lot of people wish he wouldn't come back after that performance. he really is a pathological buck passer and i think the sound bite from donald rumsfeld really says it all. boy, do we miss adults like donald rumsfeld in washington right about now. the unprecedented amount of fecklessness and wrecklessness that's been shown by this white

house is really not going to help him in those negotiations and discussions. >> gretchen: was that a way to try and put congress on notice that look, the red line doesn't stop with me. the buck doesn't stop with me. the buck stops with you, so you better get in line and vote in favor of this attack? is that how you interpreted it? >> well, i don't know what the heck that was, gretchen, because after spending the last week, two weeks dismissing the idea that congress should play any role at all, he now turns around and says that it's their credibility on the line! this is crazy. you know, we all know from government 101 that politicians are supposed to take credit and defuse blame, but the massive amount of appropriation of credit for other people's successes compared to the congenital redistribution of

blame for his own failures really is remarkable. >> steve: you know, it all started with a mistake. the line about the red line last year, he just ad libbed that. he's been trying to dig himself out from it ever since and extraordinarily yesterday, essentially he said not my red line. not my credibility. not my fault. >> yeah. well, it would be funny the perils of the teleprompter president if there weren't american lives at risk. >> steve: that's right. >> that's what makes this such a dark farce. >> steve: amen. how about this story? there are a number of prominent universities, including yale, brown, and penn state. what they're going to do is offer college kids credit if they try to update wickipedia to include more feminist thinking into wickipedia entries. they feel that there just isn't enough of that angle in wickipedia right now.

>> right. right. because there already isn't a overload of left wing bias and social justice rewriting of historical narratives on wickipedia. well, you know, this was a great story by ben shapiro and fronts page magazine who are on the front lines of trying to make sure that the right has enough space and place in social media. as much as we can make fun of wickipedia, the fact is that there are millions of people around the world and yes, some really lazy people in the news business who rely primarily on it. i know that there have been people on other networks who have been caught reading verbatim from wickipedia as news and facts! hello? but the fact is we need to be fighting in these spaces and what the left is doing is a rather savvy thing because they know he who writes history controls the world. >> gretchen: that's scary considering somebody went into our wickipedia accounts and made

steve a stripper -- >> steve: from indiana. >> gretchen: what were you, brian? >> brian: i think i was dead. they killed me. >> i've got many wickipedia war stories myself. my favorite one that i told my kids is when they claimed that i was four feet tall. not true! [ laughter ] >> gretchen: i feel for you, michelle. [ laughter ] >> brian: you want to know a good site, it's twitchy. >> steve: it's very good. we would encourage our viewers now, go into our wickipedia -- >> gretchen: no, no! come on! >> steve: it just goes to show you how corrupt it can be. michelle malkin -- >> brian: entertain us for the last 45 minutes. we'll find out. >> gretchen: all right. thanks, michelle. coming up, congress coming back early to deal with syria. will the president have enough votes? republican senator saxby chambliss supported the president a few days ago. but now is he having second thoughts? he joins us live next. >> brian: then the confusing story of the day. lincoln chaffey's shocking

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>> gretchen: fox news alert. the united states one step closer to a strike against syria as the senate foreign relations committee gives the green light to a plan for military action. now the rest of the senate will return to washington from vacation to cast that very difficult vote. so will the president's plan succeed in congress? senator saxby chapel police is here. good morning to you. >> good morning. good to be with you. >> gretchen: thank you so much. so i know that you were on the

sunday chat shows, at least one of them, where you then said a couple of days ago that you believed that some sort of action was necessary. have you changed your mind now? >> i haven't really changed my mind with regard to the fact that some action is necessary. we can't let this tyrant get away with the use of chemical weapons. it's a violation of virtually every international agreement that we've engaged in over the last several decades. but what bothers me is that we've got a president who, unlike former presidents, has failed to act the way that presidents act in times of crisis. i supported early action by this president towards the regime of bashar assad. unfortunately, he didn't do that. now he's come to congress. what complicates it when it comes to congress is that we now have a resolution that we're going to be debating on the floor of the senate. it will be amended and we'll just have to see what the final form of that resolution turns

out to be before anybody can really say whether or not you support the resolution. >> gretchen: what did you think of the president's comments yesterday when he said that really he didn't draw the red line when he said that off the cuff a year ago, that really it was the world that has drawn this sort of red line against countries who use chemical weapons? did he throw congress under the bus with that statement? >> what it says to me is that the president gets lost when he doesn't have a teleprompter in front of him, which he obviously didn't last year. that's somewhat mystifying. i was asked that yesterday and i said, maybe the president needs to go back and look at what he said a year ago. but he was very clear. it was not congress drawing a red line. he said, i have a red line. so i don't know that he's necessarily thrown congress under the bus, but he sure punted the ball to congress as oppose to go taking the type of leadership -- >> gretchen: i think he knew exactly what he was saying

yesterday. to me, it puts pressure on congress. in other words, we all drew this red line together. we're all in this together as americans, so if you don't feel the same way i do, then you're going to be to blame. you didn't take it that way? >> well, that may be what he intended because this is not going to be an easy vote for him to be able to come out in a positive way on. we saw yesterday in the foreign relations committee. everybody in there had access to the classified information. it should be very obvious to everyone that weapons were used and they were ordered to be used by assad. but the fact that we now had a close vote in the committee, passed by only three votes, indicates to me it's going to be a close vote in the senate. >> gretchen: exit question to you real quickly, do you think politics should be involved in this decision for members of congress? would they vote the same way if it were a republican president

versus a democratic one? >> you know, i think if george bush were president today, and i'm surprised they haven't blamed this somehow on bush -- but if bush were president, you would hear the democrats screaming to the high heavens. politics should not be involved. this is one of those issues, gretchen, where you just have to stand up and say, what's best for america? i hope my colleagues are thinking that way. >> gretchen: all right. senator chambliss, it will be interesting to see what you decide. thank you for joining us early this morning. >> sure. good to be with you. >> gretchen: thank you. the government not alone in snooping on your e-mails. google admits it's been peeking at them, too, and now we know what google is doing with them. jackpot, a treasure hunting family struck gold 500 feet off the florida coast. the man who found the booty here coming up next ♪ [ alarm sound for malfunctioning printer ] [ male announcer ] you've reached the age where you've learned a thing or two.

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joining us now, treasure diver who helped that family recover the monumental find on sunday morning off of fort pierce, florida. good morning to you, dale. >> good morning. >> steve: so you and the schmidt family do a lot of treasure diving. you're about 150 feet off the shore in fort pierce in an area where there was some well-known wrecks in the past. what did you find sunday morning? >> well, we found actually closer to a half million dollars in treasure. >> steve: whoa! >> we thought it was between 250 and 350. but then when the appraisal came in, it was a little over a half million. >> steve: okay. so it was just on the bottom of the -- right there in the sand? how did you find it? did you have to do some digging? >> we have a boat that is specially equipped for treasure

diving and what we do is we redirect our prop wash straight down and use the engines to uncover the 300 years worth of sand accumulation over the wreck. and we remove all that sand and go down into the holes and look for the treasure. >> steve: it started, i understand it was because of the prop wash, it was pretty messed up down there and you had to get really, really close. you saw one piece in the beginning. tell us the story. >> yeah. right after the blow, when you go into the hole, it's very cloudy. so you can't really see. but you've got a metal detector, so you're listening carefully. the metal detector went off and as soon as i moved forward, i saw the first coin. it was a big gold coin. as i'm kind of soaking in that, i see another one six inches ahead of it. >> steve: jackpot. >> yeah. exactly. that's what i'm thinking. jackpot. and then another foot or so in

front of that, there is a third one. and now it's getting a little weird. invisibility is increasing by the second. i move my mask up and i look forward and i see three piles of gold chains. >> steve: that's amazing. >> now i'm thinking they're messing with me on the boat. >> steve: they planted it! >> yes. >> steve: you found 64 feet of gold chains, five gold coins and a gold ring. okay. so now you got about half a million dollars worth of booty. you guys don't get all of it. who do you have to split it with is this. >> the leaseholder, the queens jewels llc, they own the rights to dive these wrecks over the treasure coast. they will -- we split it evenly with them, but the state also gets a 20% donation. they typically take the most unusual objects for their museum in tallahassee.

they don't take coins. they don't take other common artifacts, but like one of our chains we found, no one has ever found one quite like it. more than likely they're going to take that. >> steve: i bet. >> we're very happy that they get it because they have a museum dedicated to treasure. it's all part of finding the stuff. >> steve: a real life treasure hunter who actually found a great big treasure this past weekend. dale, congratulations and our best to the schmidt family. >> thank you. >> steve: that's great story. >> thank you very much. >> steve: way to go. smoke pot, it's safer than drinking alcohol. a billboard stirring up a whole lot of buzz this morning. we're going to tell you about it. and you check your e-mails in bed? then stay right there and send one more e-mail to us. we're going to read them. if you are hooked on a smart phone

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of getting something new. and now, with verizon edge, you can experience that new phone thrill, again, and again, and again. phil can you close your new phone box, we're picking up some feedback. every time you're ready to upgrade. having what you want on the 4glte network you rely on. that's powerful. upgrade to the droid ultra by motorola with 0 down payment.

[ male announcer ] may your lights always be green. [ tires screech ] ♪ and your favorite songs always playing. [ beeping ] ♪ may you never be stuck behind a stinky truck. [ beeping ] ♪ may things always go your way. but it's good to be prepared... just in case they don't. let's go places, safely. >> steve: a fox business alert. the labor department just releasing brand-new weekly jobless numbers. 323,000 first-time unemployment claims were filed last week. that is less than the week before and lower than expected. but it still is in the 300,000. that's a lot.

>> brian: right. >> steve: getting better. >> brian: 28 minutes before the top of the hour. >> gretchen: time to do some headlines. did you know that google uses your e-mails to sell ads? they see nothing wrong with that. google's attorneys are pressing a judge to dismiss a lawsuit that seeks to stop that practice. google says users should expect their e-mails to be combed through. the company says no actual humans read the e-mails. they use a computer program. hmmm. yeah, right. >> brian: keep the humans away from my e-mails. >> steve: that's why it's free. >> brian: a heart stopping moment caught on camera. a chopper goes down during the flipping of a hunting show. -- filming of a hunting show. gusts of wind dropped the chopper 150 feet to 70 feet in just seconds. the photographer was hanging out of the door to get better footage. amazingly, no one was seriously hurt. >> steve: that is amazing.

an armed robber picked the wrong liquor store to hold up. turns out the clerk, iraq war vet, turned the tables. putting his own gun in the thief's mouth. he joined us earlier to tell us how it all went down in missouri. >> i just told him, when i put the gun up against his mouth, i told him, you need to get the out of here before i blow your head off. >> steve: no shots were fired. no one was hurt. police are still looking for the suspect. they actually have the perp's dna from the end of the gun. so they swabbed it and now looking for him. >> gretchen: are we addicted to smart phones? a recent study shows 72% of americans are within five feet of their smart phone most of the time. >> brian: expect when you lost it, you know it's close. >> gretchen: speaking from personal experience. and one film maker says people are missing life as a result. so she's made a short film now going viral. it shows people connected even

during marriage proposal. americans already fighting back. couples banning phones and cameras at weddings and artists like prince banning them from concerts. he just doesn't want you to record his music, probably. we asked you what you thought. christine says, the genie is out of the bottle. there is no turning back. richard says, no addiction here. i don't own a smart or cell phone, but die have one big addiction and it is fox news. still have you hanging? >> brian: there is no methadone for that. >> gretchen: only alcohol. >> steve: just leave it turned on. meanwhile, at 25 minutes before the top of the hour, a live look at constantine palace in st. petersburg, russia. we'll have the image up in just a minute. >> brian: picture a palace that looks really nice. picture a lot of world leaders. 20. >> steve: and awkwardness because putin and our president, the last time they were together, it was very awkward. you look at the two of them last

time, you would suggest that they needed couple's therapy. >> brian: now they have real issues to discuss, something that's pending, syria. >> gretchen: robert deniro is returning to the big screen in a movie about the mob. this isn't like his past mafia movies. this time his family is part of witness protection. >> brian: the other side. >> gretchen: cool. look at that. >> come to france, try to fit in. i'm getting tired of finding you every 90 days. >> do we still have the same names? >> we are the blake family. >> they dress better than we do. >> you're a maniac. >> thank you. >> let's talk. >> gretchen: wow, for more we're stepping into the fox light with michael tamaro. is this a good flick? >> you talking to me? >> gretchen: oh, my goodness! he scared me. >> very funny. it's kind of an interesting, fresh take on a very familiar popular mafia genre, kind of classic fish out of water tale,

and what better way, after a summer where we sat down with oprah and hugh jackman to finish it by sitting opposite robert deniro. >> steve: bobby. >> bobby d, as we're calling him now. no, it's mr. deniro, the entire time. we sat town with him and michelle pheiffer and asked them if they had to go to the witness protection program, what would be the hardest thing for them. >> people going in the witness protection program in america, the southwest or places, it's like not happening there, it's not happening in the right way. so that sort of stuff. here, at least you have good food. >> as actors, celebrities, you spend a lot of -- a good portion of your life hiding out and trying to figure out how not to be found. but you kind -- which kind -- so you understand a certain level, like a small degree what that sense of isolation is. >> they starred in two other

movies together before this. this is the first movie they've actually shared scenes together. the chemistry is fantastic. it comes across on the film, when you're sitting with them, they carry it on. >> gretchen: sorry. when does it open? >> friday, the 13th. >> brian: is it a thumbs up? >> thumbs up. it's a dark comedy. married to the mob meets dexter. so if you like that kind of thing, you'll like this. >> steve: that means somebody dies by the end. >> a lot of people die, but they all deserve it. [ laughter ] for the latest celebrity buzz, follow me on twitter. >> steve: michael, part of our mob, thank you. >> brian: he's a made man. >> steve: meanwhile, an extreme weather alert. at this hour tropical storm gabrielle heading for puerto rico and maria molina is tracking its path from the streets of new york city. >> good morning. that's right. we do have the storm system impacting parts of puerto rico. the biggest concern with gabrielle really is the amount of rainfall we'll see out of this storm system.

we're looking at anywhere between six inches to possibly even 12 inches of rain out here. so mud slides and also flooding will be a big concern out here. that's something we're keeping an eye on. the storm system is forecast to remain a tropical storm. it could intensify a little bit as we head into the next several days. eventually takes a track towards the north and stays over open water in the atlantic once it moves out of the caribbean into the atlantic ocean. so again, it is forecast to stay east of the united states. right now we have some very hot temperatures in the center of the country. the heat extends to parts of southern california. in downtown los angeles, you can be looking at temperatures into the 90s. northeast, feeling very much like september. temperatures a little below average. tomorrow morning, some of you waking up to freeze warnings and frost advisories in interior sections of the northeast. temperatures as chilly as upper 20s. steve, gretchen and brian. >> steve: oh, oh,. >> gretchen: yikes. thanks. first the president asked congress for permission to

strike syria. now he's claiming it was congress that drew the red line and the rest of the world. is he trying to distance himself from this mess? peter johnson, jr. up next with his thoughts. >> brian: then take a look at your tv screen right now. trip to the store almost cost this man his life. we'll tell you what saved him.

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>> gretchen: quick headlines. if you're just joining us, heart stopping video. an suv plowing into a store, barely missing a customer. the man was standing against the counter waiting for his credit card to go through. if he had cash, he says he might have been right in the path of the car. this giant billboard in front of mile high stadium causing controversy. it urge -- it says marijuana is

legal in colorado. trying convince the league to rethink its policy on the drug and not punish players who use it. brian, over to you. >> brian: president obama awaits congressional approval to launch an attack on syria, many are suggesting he's trying to distance himself from the decision, if that's at all possible. first asking permission from congress. now claiming it was congress and the world that drew the red line. fox news analyst peter johnson, jr. watched the press conference. analyzed it. you understand communications. you worked in a campaign. you know it's important for a leader to show leadership, but still have political capital to spend. >> understand our constitution and our history in this country. let's look and see what the president said in the rose garden about what his authority really was. >> while i believe i have the authority to carry out this

military action without specific congressional authorization, i know that the country will be stronger if we take this course and our actions will be even more effective. >> one of the most incomprehensible statements in american history, frankly, and i'm not even exaggerate not guilty terms of that point, look at the war powers act. look at the constitution. look at the fact that the united states is not being attacked and i'm surprised so many elective leaders have stood by and allowed him to say that. president bush 1 and president bush 2 each sought congressional authorization to engage in acts of war. the recent history in terms of the bushes is that they went to congress. >> brian: having said that, if he believes he does not need the permission, why get the permission? it delays the attack. >> i don't know. you need a mind reader. >> brian: it got worst, in my estimation yesterday. let's listen to the president yesterday taking some questions. >> i didn't set a red line.

the world set a red line. the world set a red line when governments representing 98% of the world's population said the use of chemical weapons are -- and passed a treaty foregidding their use, even when countries are engaged in war. congress set a red line when it ratified that treaty. >> again, incomprehensible. first we hear it's not my job. and now, no, i didn't do that. >> brian: his point is the red line was passed in 1920. i'm enforcing it. by the way, sweden didn't see that red line. they're not involved. >> let's go to what he actually said and then explain that. >> we have been very clear to the assad regime, but also to other players on the ground that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical

weapons moving around or being utilized. >> august 20, 2012, now he's referring to the act that syria accountability act, those acts do not require, do not require that we engage in war based upon those vile chemical attacks that we're seeing. so we're seeing misstatements about history and about the law and about constitution, big, big time. >> brian: he also went back and said, my credibility is not on the line. it's the international community. america and congress' credibility. what is he talking about is this. >> again, not my job. you people are going to be held accountable in the eyes of the lord and in the eyes of the nation if you don't act on this moral imperative. the problem is if there was a moral imperative, why didn't he act in april? why didn't he act in august? it is a -- it's the jewish new year, so we wish everyone a

happy new year on tho rosh hashanah. >> brian: and what you said. >> i think it's important for jews and christians because it talks about how all of us are really interrelated. that's the real moral imperative as we think about this nation going forward. >> brian: hopefully that will be the feeling that putin and barak obama have when they go shoulder to shoulder, eye to eye today. >> doesn't look like it, especially when he calls us liars. how is the president going to step up today? >> brian: he called the secretary of state a liar yesterday. peter, thanks so much. great to see you. at 13 minutes before the top of the hour, they are country music legends. ♪ the closer you get the further i fall ♪ >> brian: alabama performs live. don't ask me how i know. first let's check in with martha mccallum who also has a band on the side and makes twice in that band what you make as anchor at fox news. >> little known fact about me. good morning, everybody. so bill o'reilly calls out conservatives on this syria

decision as the president faces putin. that could come at any moment this morning. we'll take you there live to russia. the union's big guns closing in with increasing complaints about obamacare. what's going on with that? why nikki haley got locked out of the governor's mansion. bill and i will see you at the top of the hour ossible. made gluten-free cereals in a bunch of yummy flavors. like cinnamon chex, honey nut chex, and chocolate chex... we're in cereal heaven. so thanks. from the mcgregors, 'cause we love chex. for over 30 years. and it's now the most doctor recommended, the most preferred and the most studied. so when it comes to getting the most out of your multivitamin, the choice is clear. centrum.

>> i know how fast time goes by

and the importance of cherishing life's special moments. in the blink of an eye, your world can change, and suddenly you're faced with health risks. >> one in six men will develop prostate cancer in their lifetime, and every 16 minutes, a man dies of prostate cancer in the u.s. but prostate cancer is often treatable. >> so speak to your healthcare provider about a plan for your prostate health. >> time goes by so quickly, so all the more reason to protect the futures of the ones we love. ♪ ♪ oh, make my some mountain music ♪ ♪ like grandma and grandpa used to play ♪ ♪ then i'll go on down the river to a hideaway ♪ >> steve: i love these guys. they started as three cousins from alabama who went to spend

their summers playing music in a bar. started in myrtle beach. today they stand as one of the most influential country groups of all time with more than 73 million records sold and 43 number one singles. the band, alabama, is marking their 40th anniversary with a new cd. it is called "alabama and friends." we are joined by randy owen, teddy gentry and jeff cook, members of alabama. and everybody else. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> steve: on this new album, you actually have some newcomers who are helping you out, don't you? >> a lot of friends in the music business that volunteered to do this. unfortunately we couldn't do them all. we'd have a 12-album set. >> steve: luke bryant said about being on the new cd, when they asked me to be part of the alabama project, i didn't hesitate. their music has influenced and defined who i am as an artist. that's got to make you feel good. >> absolutely. he's a great friend and great kid. he and jason, kenny, trish,

all -- it's been an interesting morning here. >> steve: no kidding. we love the fact that you came in early to set up. what are you going to perform for us? >> "love in the first degree." >> steve: here they are, folks. alabama! ♪ i once saw love as a prison ♪ a place i didn't want to be ♪ so long ago, i made a decision to be foot loose and fancy free ♪ ♪ but you came and i was so tempted ♪ ♪ to gamble on love just one time ♪ ♪ i never thought that i would get caught ♪ ♪ it seemed like a perfect

crime ♪ ♪ baby, you loved me defenseless ♪ ♪ and i've only got one thing ♪ lock me away inside of your love ♪ ♪ and throw away the key ♪ 'cause i'm guilty of love in the first degree ♪ ♪ i thought it would be so simple ♪ ♪ like 1,000 times before ♪ i'd take what i wanted and just walk away ♪ ♪ but i never made it to the door ♪ ♪ now, babe, i'm not begging for mercy ♪ ♪ go ahead and throw the book at me ♪ ♪ if loving you's a crime then i know that i'm as guilty as a man can be ♪

♪ baby, you loved me defenseless ♪ ♪ and i've only got one beat ♪ lock me away inside of your love ♪ ♪ and throw away the key ♪ 'cause i'm guilty of love in the first degree ♪ ♪ love in the first degree ♪ oh, yeah ♪ love in the first degree ♪ oh, yeah ♪ whoa yeah ♪ baby, you loved me defenseless ♪ ♪ and i've only got one plea ♪ lock me away inside of your love ♪ ♪ and throw away the key ♪ 'cause i'm guilty of love in the first degree ♪

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>> gretchen: fox news alert. we're waiting for president obama to arrive at the g-20 summit to meet putin. they're all arriving there. there is putin there. will he greet the president, our president, with as much vigor as that handshake because they're in a little bit of a tiff. >> steve: yeah. they'll be putten on the blitz as the president tries to go ahead and convince him of doing something about syria as the world press looks on is a good idea and in russia's best interest. >> brian: tomorrow, kevin mccarthy will be here. and charlie daniels live. and geraldo rivera. who cannot sing, but he can do anything else. >> steve: he does way too much sometimes. see you tomorrow, everybody.

bill: big show here. good morning. fox news alert. faceoff happening right now between world powers. that is live look, st. petersburg, russia. he president obama will come face-to-face with russian president vladmir putin as the specter of syrian airstrikes loom in the air there. good importanting, everybody, i'm bill hemmer. welcome to "america's newsroom." how are you doing? martha: good morning, bill. i'm martha maccallum. hours before the president landed, president putin slammed u.s. secretary of state john kerry over his testimony on the civil war in syria. the russian strong man calling kerry a liar. watch this. >> translator: i watched debates in